UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

of European igneous rock including over twenty-five thousand thin
sections. The department under the laws of the state also receives
the rock collections of the present State Geological Survey, and has
in addition the use of nearly seventy thousand specimens and twenty
thousand thin sections belonging to the United States Geological Sur-
vey, which were collected during studies of the Lake Superior
region. A few only of the type fossils described by the former
Geological Survey of Wisconsin escaped the fire which destroyed
the collection of that organization in 1884, but the losses are being
gradually replaced.
The museum of the State Historical Society, which though not
administered by the University, is open to the use of its students
for purposes of study and research, makes a specialty of the
archaeology and social history of the western Indians, and of the
western pioneer life, especially in Wisconsin, and is notable for its
collections illustrating the early history of the upper Mississippi
valley.
The art museums belonging to the University or accessible to its
students are not yet developed. The Art Museum of the Historical
Society contains a number of modern pictures of merit, a collection
of Piranesi etchings of classical ruins, and a number of good
prints and reproductions valuable for study.   By the gifts of
alumni and friends, and the loans of  the late Professor Paul S.
Reinsch, the University is in possession of a collection of almost two
hundred valuable paintings as an art nucleus.